


pyre, pyre

by vanitaslaughing



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Angst and Tragedy, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Deities, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Jealousy, Somnus Lucis Caelum Off The Shits Tour 2019, Witch Hunts, tho theyre more like daemon hunts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 12:03:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17828189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanitaslaughing/pseuds/vanitaslaughing
Summary: all returns to hellfirewho cares if one goes early?





	pyre, pyre

**Author's Note:**

> (somnus voice) are you tired of being nice. dont you jsut wanna go ape shitt
> 
> please mind the tags.

The bastard had to be in this region. He always was where he most definitely was not supposed to be, apparently led by some divine guidance or benevolence of a deity nonsense that his beloved preached. But unfortunately, much to his disappointment, his brother refused to show his face even as his men rounded the people of this settlement up. Anyone who looked ill to any degree, anyone who had already mutated, even those that were far long gone and turned grotesque—all of them stacked in a pyre, with the flames reaching high enough to call out the gods that sat and did nothing to ease the mortal’s suffering.

If they wouldn’t, he would.

He sure would have loved to put the rabid dog festering in his family down. Not that Ardyn was a dog by any means. He just was an insufferable bore. Insufferable and always where he was not supposed to be. As the soldiers did as they were told, he gestured to his right hand who trailed him always.

Ardyn opted to travel alone.

Somnus did not, and Gilgamesh was a most valuable partner to have in situations like these.

“The seasoned trackers, are they with us?” He kept his voice deliberately low and did not turn to look at the man leaning in from behind him.

“Would you like me to gather them?”

Somnus shook his head slightly. “Two or three ought to suffice. Word is that a certain darling Oracle has fled the castle despite the increased number of men left behind to keep her in check. There are ruins nearby, and my brother has the impeccable skill of being where he ought not be. Chance is they are both around the ruins. The moment they separate, have the trackers _finally_ bring my fool brother home.”

“Of course, Milord. At once.”

This game was getting _boring._ Just as much as an insufferable bore as Ardyn was. Though, he had to grant those two that much—the fact that they managed to keep Ardyn’s unfortunate affliction under wraps for so long as impressive.

Somnus did not even raise an eyebrow as a handful soldiers dragged a screaming and struggling man past him. The fact that several trained soldiers were necessary to keep him in check spoke volumes of what was going on in this village. Crying and weeping children be damned. Screaming and begging elders be damned.

The unforgiving gods and his blessed brother be damned.

* * *

The second coming of the Pyreburner, one voice cried from the flames. Cold, uncaring blade of the Draconian called another. Child of fire, Ifrit’s Hellfire, the sword that delivered the just and the unjust. Were he on his own, he would have talked back, would have walked up to the flames to stoke them and tell all of them to wait for him and everyone else in the void beyond, for there was no way that the Six even cared about them. Did they care, they would have lent a direct hand in fending off the Daemons, would guide the people against the sickness. Did they care, they would have spared everyone involved this unnecessary tragedy.

The people believed that beloved Ardyn and beloved Aera’s wedding was held off because of the former’s desire to help the common people and the latter’s devotion to the Crystal and the divine voices that spoke to her. Watching from the shadows, Somnus knew better. The people hated him but loved Ardyn—because they did not see what he saw. A monster. A monster wearing the skin of his insufferable bore of a brother who drowned in compassion and selflessness even though the common people would turn their back on him the _moment_ they knew.

He’d tried painting Ardyn a monster time and time again. Pointed out the inconsistencies, shook Aera by the shoulders. All it earned him was a fist to the face and accusations of being a green-eyed monster himself. And yes, he had laughed into the empty call, he was one. But better a green-eyed monster that sowed flame and despair where it went to protect the unaffected than one that was a doomsday device ticking, ticking, with the explosion imminent.

He watched the flames grow higher. Listened to the screams of the damned and those not turned yet sputter and die as the flames consumed all. They all cursed him, they all called for his brother. Asked for a forgiveness that the gods did not give, that not even his brother could give because his body must have nearly reached its limit by now. All of this was going to collapse in on itself, and Somnus was going to claw his way out of this alive and on top.

Weeping and begging family members be damned. Screeching and cursing monsters in the pyre be damned.

The cold gods and his divine brother be damned.

* * *

In another life, maybe they could have gotten along. Her love for ancient ruins was something he did not share in the slightest—too much effort. He hated climbing things. He hated travelling around on foot or in a wagon or with a Chocobo for something as whimsical as exploration, even if he could at least sleep on a wagon. But that did not mean that he did not somewhat admire how strong she was for a woman who was supposed to be the gentle and caring voice of the gods that did not care. Aera was strong, physically and mentally, composed and cold when she needed to be. But Somnus knew that side she only showed those she liked. The warm, the caring, the loud and easily excited. The way her eyes glowed when Ardyn told her about another ruin, whenever he returned with another nonsensical trinket that might have been a fossil or a rock bearing some sort of ancient family sigil.

Not that he ever saw her act like this towards him. Somnus saw many things from the shadows, from behind the fire’s glare. Things that others thought he did not see.

Her voice did not quiver the slightest, he noted with a grin as foul as he could manage on his face.

Her return had been as hushed as her escape had been, and she and the servants dispatched to take care of her every need acted as if she had never been gone in the first place and as if the people Somnus dispatched to trail her movements in this place were just plain insane.

Her beloved meanwhile had managed to lose the trackers that Somnus had sent after him. The idiots had misunderstood the situation and decided that ‘bring him home by force if needs be’ meant they were to draw weapons and chase after him. Ardyn wasn’t an animal. Ardyn wasn’t stupid. Just forsaken in the greater plan for this equally forsaken planet unless something were to be done.

“A decision left to us mortals? Now the high and mighty gods shirk even _that_ duty?”

She shook her head. “A decision left to the people. A decision you know the outcome of already.”

He moved off the pillar. Closed the distance between them with quick strides, and grabbed her face with one hand. Aera did not even flinch as he dug his fingers into her cheeks.

“Of course I do, darling sister-in-law. But you do forget that you lie to the common people—do you think they would appreciate having a beloved king who turns into a monster without even siring an heir?”

She shoved him off and took a step backwards with a hiss. “Lies or no, I would rather they be happy and alive for a short while than subjecting them to a ruler burning those at the stake who have no say in what happens to them! And Ardyn thinks—“

He whisked around before she finished her sentence, let out a long and bitter laugh to shut her up. “The same, doesn’t he. You two have ever been too good for this sinful earth, full of monsters and those who would become monsters. There is but _one_ little detail you are forgetting. Mortals turn. Quickly so. You two might be above all of us, writhing in agony begging for some divine benevolence to revel in ‘ere the fires of hell come consume us. They see you as guiding lights, both you and my brother. But what the people do not know is that the Crystal has no will of its own. The gods shirk their duty by making the people decide? Very well! Watch and see how quickly they turn, see your intricate web of lies turn against you and him both in the wake of one more little lie.”

“You wouldn’t! Myself all aside, he’s your _brother!”_

“A brother sent on a fool’s errand by uncaring gods! Whatever you think I am doing, in the end I’m doing Eos a favour by putting him out of his misery ‘ere he can hurt you or anyone else! So go, cry! Tremble against the heavens you preach that sent him to his demise, do whatever you want! You’ll live. He won’t. Simple as that.”

He walked away before she said anything else, unable to laugh this one time. She was going to live, it was the least he could do for Ardyn, no matter how much of a dreadful bore he was when he was not threatening the very people he wanted to protect. He loved Aera. Therefore Somnus was going to let her live.

They would all burn eventually. What did it matter if some burned a little earlier than anticipated?

The writhing and howling masses be damned. This high and mighty woman who walked in the hands of the divine until a mob turned against her be damned.

The uncaring gods and his plaything of a brother be damned.

* * *

He leaned in close, one last time. Once upon a time they were brothers, but now that his theory had proven true that the gods were absolutely not interested in what happened here on this blighted land he was an only child. One that had travelled the earth with a woman now dead and buried in the flowerbed she loved so much. At the height of their travels together, they shackled a hideous beast at the cost of her life.

Ardyn could not move.

Somnus slung his arms around him.

“Oh, darling brother,” he whispered into the chained man’s ear with a grin on his lips, “if only your divine guidance could save you now. Alas, we made sure we buried her properly. Too bad her beloved cannot join her in eternal rest.”

He backed away when those words jolted life back into Ardyn’s eerily still body. Somnus only grinned at him—a year had passed, and Ardyn still looked the same. It had been the correct choice, clearly emphasised by the fact that significantly less people turned into monsters. Those who did and those who showed the slightest signs of it burned, the fire consuming them early.

For the first time in a year Ardyn struggled against his restraints, and Somnus watched his brother writhe with that grin still on his lips.

Eventually his brother stopped.

Aera had called him a green-eyed monster, but her former betrothed was the quite literal monster in this equation right now, Somnus thought to himself and his grin turned from a provocation to morbidly amused. Deranged, some would call it. Not that there was a single person ever saw it and could call it that. Somnus was the one who watched from the shadows, but no one ever watched Somnus from there now that he had clawed his way to the top despite everything stacked against him. Showing this to his brother did not matter; no one would ever speak to Ardyn again. Ardyn would be gone once everyone currently alive was dead. Swept away like a spark of flame on a gust of wind, fated to vanish and never to return. Someone would smother Ardyn eventually. It wasn’t Somnus’ problem anymore.

He was the one who had to stoke the flame that would eventually find its way to Ardyn.

If the countryside burned in the meanwhile, what did he care. They all came from the fires of hell, and would return there eventually.

“Ah, ah, ah, come now. You know as well as I do that struggling like this is pointless.” He moved forward a little. Ardyn immediately moved as well, some sort of slight forward motion.

That look of utter fury on the man’s face as black blood dripped down his face was amusing, to say the least. Amusing and… terrifying.

“I played my part. You play yours.” The grin faded from his features and was replaced with the stoic coldness of a ruler. “She could have lived, had she not acted like an idiot. I only needed to show that you lied—I would have spared her. But she did not let me. Believe what you will, but I know I am telling the truth here.”

Somnus folded his hands together, turned away from his brother and walked a few steps away.

He heard a snarl, something that vaguely sounded like a word. Likely his name, growled out in agony by a man whose voice had long since gone raw and abused from screaming and naught else. No, not a man. A husk of a man. A creature stuck in a vessel of flesh and blood.

Removing his brother from that equation made it less terrifying. This was just a Daemon that no weapon killed. Something they needed to leave to the hands of the gods that never listened, that never cared unless their own plans were threatened. He clutched his head with a whimper unbecoming of a king for a moment. Not a king. Not a monster. Just a jealous fool and his victim.

He dropped his arms again. Exhaled slowly, fully aware of the fact that Ardyn did not breathe either in or out.

“I’ll be seeing you when the flames of hell come consume you as well, brother.”

The silence of this prison be damned. The fact that he’d done the right thing in a wrong way be damned.

The absent gods, his fool of a brother, and he himself be damned.


End file.
